It’s raspberry season, and although I love eating them plain I can’t help but bake with them. Today I have an extra delicious recipe featuring these gorgeous red berries to share with you! 

This might sound funny coming from someone who bakes a lot and makes a lot of cakes—but I’m actually not a cake person. Unless they’re Norwegian cakes 😉 

Why is that? 

Norwegian cakes are never too sweet and always have a soft, doughy yet light texture almost reminiscent of a savory pastry. 

Such as in today’s recipe, bringebærkake (or vegan raspberry cake), where instead of raspberry jam, which adds unnecessary sweetness, fresh raspberries are blended into the batter. The tanginess of the fresh berries is a welcome contrast to the sweeter cake and the raspberry and lemon glaze.

A touch of cardamom is also added to the cake batter, because what Norwegian baked goods can’t benefit from this very popular spice (cardamom buns, anybody?)? 

The cardamom along with good vanilla paste adds a depth of flavor making each bite of this cake a culinary delight. 

Finally, a sprinkling of toasted almond slivers adds just the right texture, like crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s—it makes this vegan raspberry cake perfect!

Just like so many other Norwegian coffee cakes, bringebærkake is simple to make and great if you want to bake with kids or someone who isn’t super comfortable in the kitchen. 

No stand mixer or lengthy mixing is required. All you need is a bowl or two, and a cake pan—and voila! You can have this fabulous pastry on the table in less than an hour and a half. 

Enjoy this with a hot, strong cup of coffee or your favorite tea for that extra special afternoon treat. 

You can also freeze the cake, unglazed, after baking. After thawing, pour the glaze over when you’re ready to serve.

Norvegan Bringebærkake

Makes one 8-inch cake

Ingredients

For the wet ingredients:
½ cup (115 g) vegan yogurt (preferably Greek)
3 tablespoons grapeseed or neutral oil 
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice + zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons quality vanilla extract or paste
½ cup (125 ml) non-dairy milk

For the dry ingredients:
300 g all-purpose flour or cake flour, sifted
¼ tsp fine sea salt
¾ tsp baking soda
1¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 heaping cup (150 g) fresh raspberries

For the raspberry & lemon icing:
¾ cup fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¾ cup powdered sugar (or more as needed)

For the topping:
almond slivers or sliced almonds
raspberry & lemon icing

Directions

To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease an 8-inch (20 cm) cake pan and line it with parchment paper then set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, oil, and sugar using a spatula.

Add in the vanilla extract, plant milk, lemon zest, and juice. Mix well.

Next, sift in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cardamom and gently fold into the wet ingredients. The finished batter should be fairly thick rather than pourable.

Next, cover the bottom of the baking pan with a thin layer of cake batter and arrange half of the raspberries over the batter.

Cover the raspberries with half of the remaining batter.

Then top with the remaining raspberries, and lastly the rest of the batter. Make sure raspberries are folded into the batter and not sticking out. 

Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden brown. 

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a rack to cool completely. 

To make the raspberry icing:
In the bowl of a high-speed blender, purée the raspberries with the lemon juice and a splash of water until a homogeneous liquid. 

Strain the liquid into a small bowl, you should have about ⅓ cup of liquid.

Sift in the powdered sugar and whisk together with a fork, until you have the desired consistency of a slightly runny icing. 

To assemble the cake:
Once cool, drizzle the cake with the raspberry & lemon icing. Then sprinkle the top with the almond slivers. 

More Recipes To Try…

Tropisk Aroma Cake 

Blackcurrant Coffee Cake with Vanilla Sauce

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cake